{"id":441401,"date":"2026-02-23T15:47:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T15:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/441401\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T15:47:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T15:47:12","slug":"most-pros-support-uci-gearing-restriction-says-riders-union-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/441401\/","title":{"rendered":"Most pros support UCI gearing restriction, says riders’ union president"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fewer than 20 per cent of riders polled by the Cyclistes Professionnels Associ\u00e9s (CPA) were against the UCI\u2019s proposed gearing restriction trial, claims the body’s president, Adam Hansen.<\/p>\n

Writing for Domestique<\/a>, Hansen explains that, while the proposal didn\u2019t come from the CPA \u2013 the union that represents professional cyclists \u2013 it supports the move because it is \u201ccommitted to following the collective voice of the peloton\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Planned to take place at the Tour of Guangxi in October, the test would have seen riders restricted to gearing limited to 10.46 metres development \u2013 roughly equivalent to a 54x11t with a 28mm tyre.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"SramSRAM was set to be keenly affected by the UCI’s proposal. Andy Lloyd \/ Our Media<\/p>\n

As was widely reported at the time, this would have impacted SRAM-sponsored teams<\/a> because its 12-speed road cassettes start with a 10t cog.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, the UCI was instructed to halt the test<\/a> following a challenge by SRAM tested in the courts of the Belgian Competition Authority (BCA).\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the time, the BCA said the trial didn\u2019t \u201cmeet the required conditions of objectivity and transparency” and risked creating “serious and difficult to repair” harm for SRAM.<\/p>\n

In a statement published following the original ruling, the UCI contested the BCA\u2019s decision, questioning its authority to make a decision: \u201c[the ruling] is issued by a Belgian authority responding to a complaint from a US company against a Swiss sports association regarding a test to be carried out on Chinese territory.\u201d<\/p>\n

SRAM to fund litigation against itself
\n\"KIGALI,Cyclingnews reports that UCI president David Lappartient \u2013 pictured right \u2013 proposed the UCI would take over management of SafeR due to a lack of unity. in Kigali, Rwanda. (Photo by Dario Belingheri\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

As reported by Cyclingnews<\/a>, the UCI will contest the BCA\u2019s ruling using funds from the SafeR budget, following a meeting of the SafeR supervisory board.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The CPA is one of four stakeholders that make up SafeR, along with the UCI, Association of Professional Cycling Teams (AIGCP), and the International Association of Race Organisers (AIOCC). Cyclingnews reports that all parties, except the AIGCP, voted for the proposal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

SafeR is part-funded by contributions from teams. This latest move means SRAM-sponsored teams will, in effect, be funding litigation against their sponsor.<\/p>\n

Hansen notes that, along with the support of riders, the CPA\u2019s decision to support the move is \u201cbased on a vote by the national associations\u201d, and that if the test doesn\u2019t go ahead, \u201cthen SafeR has no purpose\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

SRAM did not respond to requests for comment on Hansen\u2019s claims or the latest developments in time for publication.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fewer than 20 per cent of riders polled by the Cyclistes Professionnels Associ\u00e9s (CPA) were against the UCI\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":441402,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-441401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}